Thursday, June 28, 2012

Most of the LARPs I play have a distinctly "heroic" morality-- characters are expected to a) do good things, b) support good things, and/or c) at the very least, do bad things quietly. However, as many of us know, even within a "heroic" setting, there is plenty of room for moral shades of gray.

With that being said, as an NPC, PC, or staff person, what have some of your most interesting "moral moments" been? What difficult decisions have you forced on players? What dilemmas, as a player, have you had to reconcile? How does morality, and the ramifications of moral decisions, add to the bigger narrative of your game?

(Also, thanks to everyone for the fantastic comments on recent posts. It's exciting to have such a thoughtful readership on this blog-- it really helps to keep the conversation going, and to widen perspectives on LARP.)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I'm pleased to have the input of my friend, Anthony Reed, the fellow who originally introduced me to LARPing. Anthony is also a diligent note taker and note sharer; his tactics for note-taking have improved my experience and approach to LARPing.

Note-taking may seem like a strange topic. Note-taking is something, in my opinion, that players do religiously or almost not at all. As an anthropologist and a writer, note-taking has always appealed to me. Zealously taking notes, I quickly found, improved my game experience, and allowed me to, on a meta-level, interact with the game world more reflectively. Anthony and I thought about the note-taking phenomenon at LARPs, and expanded on it a bit further.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Another great post from Dan on the role of courtesy in LARPs-- sometimes courtesy, beyond simply making people feel better, can also improve the gameworld of the LARP in question.

Creating Atmosphere: The Game is What You Make It

One of the wonderful aspects of LARPing is that it is not only a shared experience, but that the creation of that experience is shared by all its participants as well as the creators. It's rather an amazing thing, but this can also at times work against a game when not everyone is on the same page. Most of us can probably recall at one time or another either in a LARP or tabletop game when a particularly powerful or compelling moment was spoiled by an ill timed out of game reference, joke, a cell phone ringing, or something similar. Emotionally engaging scenes, particularly those involving creepy or scary themes depend on everyone involved being invested in what is happening, and the shared imaginative space we collectively seek to maintain is easily broken. Creating a memorable and effective game experience depends not only on staff and NPCs, but equally on the player's contributions as well, and there are some things all of us can do to help things along. You've paid your game fee for the weekend, you may as well help get the most you can out of it.

First, it's not just about you. You may have decided you're playing Max Power The Undefeated Hero who isn't scared of anything, isn't phased by anything, and comes off as a cocky showboat, but keep in mind how your role-play is effecting the game space for those around.If you go in with a group of your fellow PCs into a dark module building with some heavily costumed creepy monster, some brash comments here and there may be appropriate for you, an unending string of them may spoil the mood for your fellow players. Some playersreally enjoy drinking in the flavor of a scene, they want to be frightened, sad, or otherwise pushed to experience how their character will react to intense situations. This can only happen for them, however, if the mood in a scene is maintained. Going overboard on giving silly nicknames to enemy villains, excessive smack-talk, or even worse breaking game and making movie or video game references and the like can instantly undo everything plot is trying to accomplish (and remember what they're working for is to entertain you). So, be aware of the roleplaying atmosphere when you enter a situation, and help to strengthen it. It's fine to roleplay your hero how you see him or her, but you don't want to steamroll other people's roleplay while you do so.

Second, mistakes happen, and sometimes you just have to roll with the retcon. NPCs coming into a game have a lot of information to absorb, and not everything is going to stick, so you may find that an NPC hook coming to take you on a mod somewhere gives you information that contradicts things you know to be true, or that it turns out later was inconsistent with other things going on. Have mercy on the poor fellow. Sometimes when an NPC is sent out it's with only a sparse briefing from a frazzled staff person being pulled in twelve directions, and they may get something wrong, or they may have been given a very in depth seventeen page briefing which means they've probably forgotten 90% of it. So, when you run into a situation where the person running your encounter ends up having to clarify a confusing situation due to conflicting or inconsistent information, get the real story and just let the rest slide. Mistakes will happen, and harping on them accomplishes little save to further embarrass the poor NPC who is already feeling bad for having screwed up the information they gave out in the first place, and we don't want our NPCs to feel bad. It's understandable that you may feel a lot of frustration in the moment, but be aware that obsessing verbally over this sort of thing can end up adding to the frustration of other players.

Third, it's not contest. Plot is trying to tell a story and create memorable experiences, they're not trying to beat the players. NPCs are told quite frequently 'play to entertain, not to win.' PCs are expected to play to win, but at the same time it's important to keep in mind that it's not you vs. the GM. The game is supposed to be fun for everyone, and when staff throws you a particularly daunting challenge or hard fight, more often then not it's because they want you to have the chance to be heroic, and they're hoping you'll succeed. If you do get thrown a no-win scenario, keep in mind that the aim is still to engage you in a story that is fun. Think back to epicscience fiction and fantasy you've read or watched, and how much sweeter the hero's triumph is when they finally claim victory from seemingly insurmountable odds. Compare that with your average Saturday morning cartoon where the heroes win every single time, it gets pretty boring.

Helping to maintain the atmosphere that plot is trying to create isn't just about being courteous to NPCs and your fellow players, it's about creating a better experience for you. If you find you're breaking character repeatedly because you're not into a scene, consider if there are things you can be doing to help improve things. If one person starts breaking game, most likely other people will be too, so the quality of any encounter is entirely dependent on what the people involved make of it.

How have you moved to make games more courteous? Does courtesy create a better feel of immersion? What are ways to appropriate roleplay challenging situations?

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The great Spring/Summer LARP marathon is done, and I'm soon jetting off to do some research in Japan. I intend to update, as it will be a nice way to stay in touch with everyone. Also, Japan is a big source of inspiration for a lot of my LARP aesthetics.

Stay tuned for a collaborative post from my good friend Anthony (on note taking), and, in the meantime, please check out a new Larp blog: LARP Theory from Scott. It's exciting to see all of these LARP blogs coalescing, so please show your support.

Friday, June 15, 2012

No matter how thrilling the LARP, how invested your character, nor how seemingly non-stop the action, every single character, in every single LARP, will eventually come across the Great Beast of Boredom.

Boredom, at a LARP, happens. It happens for a variety of reasons: you're not interested in the weekend's main plot; it's just not "your event," and, while all of your friends are getting personal plot, you're sitting in a tavern, vainly hoping the weird-looking-creature-from-another-realm is looking for you and not the other weird-looking-creature-from-another-realm; you, through ill-fated odds, have missed every single NPC who has waltzed into town, looking for unoccupied adventurers of any sort. This stuff happens to everyone, though hopefully not routinely. And it causes boredom, which can easily shift to negativity, hurt feelings, and out-of-game dissatisfaction with an event.

I think that dealing with boredom is an important skill, and one that I am slowly learning. Especially during a busy or transitional event, it's important to be able, I feel, to entertain yourself using the structure around you-- even at the most "you-centric" event, chances are you will have a couple hours or more of downtime. For newer players, it can be difficult to get involved with larger swaths of plot. For example, recently, due to some stretches of inactivity at a previous event, my friend and I started designing an in-game, self-sufficient group to make us feel more involved. The beauty of this group is that it is completely player driven, and operates within the existing structure of the game world: when plot is busy making the event run smoothly, we'll have something to do that requires no outside "help." (I'll let you know how it goes once it's in the works officially.)

How do you deal with boredom? More interestingly, has your game improved because of steps to involve yourself?

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Recently, I got into a conversation with a group of LARPers about "gross-out" techniques: LARP mechanics and special effects meant to elicit a visceral reaction-- generally one of repulsion. I wanted to mull over it a bit, and then present some questions to readers.

Repulsion is a powerful emotion/reaction. It borders somewhere between hatred, fear, and, if the offensive subject is done well, pity. (In my anthropological work, repulsion and disgust is actually something that I have studied quite a bit-- I apologize, in advance, for pedantic babbling.) For those familiar with Julia Kristeva's work on the abject, repulsion is the reaction that protects us-- the vulnerable viewer, the subject-- from a thing that threatens our personhood and identity. The most obvious example is a corpse (especially one that is visibly decaying): a corpse reminds us, the living observer, of our own mortality. By rejecting it-- through a wave of nausea, discomfort, and/or outright fear--, we reject, on some level, our own mortality. Our human weakness. The reality that, wriggling inside us, is the potential for decay. Of course, repulsion doesn't need to be directed at a corpse specifically: rotten food, vermin, insects, and disease all elicit powerful reactions of disgust. However, some would argue, and I don't necessarily disagree, that all repulsion stems from fear of the corpse and, more specifically, dying things.

To blather for a moment, to me, as someone who uses a significant amount of gore in her writing, art, and performance, there is a big difference to "repulsing" people and simply "grossing people out." Repulsion involves fear, and, to me, a confrontation with things we realize we never wanted to reconcile-- repulsion involves a recognition of a taboo intellectual curiosity. Gross-out moments involve a simpler visceral reaction: nausea or a clenched chest, without any sort of intellectual investment, as reaction to something that is simply disgusting to our senses. Both have their moments, though repulsion is more powerful. Repulsion taps into fear and, more importantly, intelligence.

To move on to LARPing, the power of repulsion is legendary. We have all probably had at least one moment, in-game, where our characters encounter something that is, simply put, repulsive. To give an example-- mine comes from Mirror, Mirror: At the tail end of a grueling 6-hour grinder, we had to reclaim orbs. The trouble was, we had to reclaim orbs from a vat of viscous goo (some sort of xanthan gum creation). It was utmost import that we, brave champions that we were, quickly and efficiently reclaim the orbs, and make a dash for it. Easier said than done: the goo was pretty disgusting. Beyond the slimy feel, the goo (which we couldn't see clearly due to the darkened module space) was disconcertingly tepid: it was warm enough to suggest something was wriggling and/or living within it. It was simple, repulsive, and, most importantly, really upped the intensity of the module. It was a good example, I feel, of the "repulsion component" used appropriately.

Repulsing people is a subtle art. As in a film, in a LARP it's easy to go over board: lots of gore, over-selling special effects, too many added sounds, and layering rotting-corpse-upon-rotting-corpse. For squeamish players, it becomes obnoxious to have to deal with excessive attempts at gore. For players who enjoy gore, excessive amounts become silly and laughable. Depending on the tone of your campaign, laughable gore might be perfect. However, if you're going for severity and mystery, less is more.

Repulsion, as I discussed, involves fear. That means it inherently involves manipulation. In order to repulse people, manipulate their expectations. Look at standard things in your game that players take for granted: safe spaces like taverns, standard attacks, and friendly, visiting NPCs. All of these things can be carefully tweaked to elicit fear. Consider the following examples...

1) Taverns: I, like many players, use taverns as places where I can feel safe. While I would never want it to be an all-the-time thing, careful toying with the Tavern, especially at "spooky" events, can be really powerful. For instance, many taverns have beds across which players stretch themselves. As part of a horror-based plot line, stick a disembodied hand under a pillow. When the players find it, it will be scary-- all the more so because a safe space has been invaded. Finding an unwelcome guest (such as insects, vermin, or, well, a hand) is much scarier in your own home than in some abandoned ruin.

2) Standard Attacks: Flavor attacks can go a long way to repulse people. Accelerant uses a standard call, "[Attack] [by Trait]" leading to calls like simply "Agony" or "Agony by Light" ("Agony" being seized by some sort of pain to the extent where you can only block). If hit by something like an "Agony by Fire," players generally roleplay the fiery pain. "Agony by Light" elicits players rping a blinding light. Accordingly, a well-placed Trait on this sort of call can easily repulse players. To again borrow from Mirror, Mirror, I give you the infamous "Agony by Maggots." Just think about it. Yes, that's right. Maggots squirming everywhere. When I was first hit by that Agony attack, as soon as my brain registered the nature of the trait, I was so repulsed that I almost dropped my weapon. It was brilliant and disgusting. Also, most importantly, it was subtle.

3) Friendly NPCs: We all expect unfriendly NPCs to be ugly and heinous, but what about friendly ones? Try this: send an rp-heavy NPC into town. The goal of this NPC should basically be to chat up players, get to know them, and help them out. However, make this NPC hideously ugly-- perhaps gaping sores or something similar. In any case, make the NPC truly difficult to look at. This will no doubt repulse players, but in a very powerful way: it will force them to reconcile any biases they may have based on the physical appearance of an individual. That's the power of repulsion: it forces us into an internal debate with our values and prejudices.

So, these are just a few ideas, and urge you to pursue your own. What have been particularly repulsive moments in campaigns? Is there anything that you would want to try? Is there anything that has failed? Where do people need to draw the line?

Friday, June 8, 2012

Not to much in the way of theoretical rambling today, but instead a series of eyecandy: make-up tutorials from youtube. I've been passing time by watching these this week: they're fun, and have given me some fun ideas. To be fair, I've seen some Accelerant LARPers who outdo any of these artists, but, for beginners like me, these videos are great for inspiration. If any readers do phenomenal makeup-- and I know some of you do-- I'd be happy to accept tutorials. Also, while most of these artists are women, these could certainly be unisex designs. Enjoy!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

So, a mainstay of both conventions, faires, and Nordic Larp is workshops, lectures, and other "how-to's" concerning all things LARP. Activities can range from make-up to combat workshops to panels on game design. Following some conversations with similar-minded friends, I've been wondering how workshops might be applied to a smaller LARP setting. I think a one-day event, run by people within a singular system, would be a) a good way to bring people together, and b) a way to improve people's game. In my professional life, I workshop all the time: conferences are ways to listen to innovative thinkers (in my field), and learn valuable techniques. LARP is such an applied art form, that I think workshopping different things would be really beneficial. Here are some of the things I envision as being useful to the games I play:

- Durable Fantasy Make-up: I often see people at LARPs who not only sport fantastic make-up, but seem to apply make-up in a way that prevents smudges and runny streaks (even after a 3-hour grinder in light rain). Slowly learning through trial, error, and youtube videos has been my way-- it would be great to have a workshop on how to apply a range of make-up.

- Costuming Basics: I am not a sewer, nor do I have gobs of money to spend on costuming. I would love to learn where to look for cheap, functional, and attractive clothing. I think this would be especially beneficial for newer people, who may not want to invest lots of time and money into costume-finding.

- Acting Workshops: We all know the LARPer who does five phenomenal accents per event, has perfected the art of gesture, and can play any character, from heinous to pitiful. It would improve everybody's game if we could all learn some tricks-of-the-trade.

- Traps: I've always wanted to learn how to assemble traps and trap modules, but, as a hands-on person, videos don't really do it for me. There are some great trappers out there, and I, personally, would love to learn from them. And maybe even have a test module of a trapping event.

- Music Workshops: I'm always looking for short, accessible songs well-suited to a LARP. Also, as someone who loves to sing with others, I'm into this sort of thing.

- A Panel on Running a Monster Camp: If you've NPCed, you've probably been in excellent MCs and terrible ones. Getting together a group of staffers, all with Monster Camp experience, and asking them to share organizational tactics might be beneficial for everyone.

Alright, enough of my rambling...

Would you be interested in a one-day event geared totally towards LARP workshops relevant to your community? Have you ever participated in one? What sort of things would you want to see workshopped?

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Dan has written an excellent piece on PCing, player dynamics, and sportsmanship. It's an important topic, and one on which many of us, myself included, don't frequently write. After reading, please go check out Dan's blog, The Paladin's Perspective. I have been following it recently, and he offers a lot of sage advice.

A couple years back there was a discussion on someone's LJ about meta-level PC/NPC interactions. NPCs are frequently told 'don't play to win, play to entertain,' but the question came up as to whether or not PCs had a responsibility to watch out for the fun level of NPCs. One person asserted no, they didn't feel they had any responsibility towards NPCs at all, which created a bit of a stir. Here's my take on it.
I've only been LARPing for several years at this point, but I've done quite a lot of NPCing over that time, and it's a hat I can't really take off anymore. I'm pretty much always trying to keep an eye out particularly during fights as to how NPCs seem to be enjoying what's going on. Why? It's pretty simple. I like big melees, and lots of them. I like having a field choked with people running about thwacking each other with sticks, but I can only do that if there's someone for me to fight. Lets face it, boffer solitaire just ain’t that fun. I love to crunch as an NPC, and I have a pretty good idea of what makes for a fun fight from both the PC and NPC side at this point. I want NPCs to come to games I PC at so I can get in good fighting, and plenty of it, so I want them to have a good time while we're going at it. So, just as while I'm NPCing I'm constantly trying gauge PC enjoyment of what's going on, as a PC I'm doing the same thing.

There are a few good rules of etiquette which are admittedly situation dependent, but I personally feel help to make for a fun time for all involved, and I strongly feel this applies regardless of what side of the line you're on.

First off, don't mob the poor 4 vitality crunchy who's out doing field pain in a 17 on 3 fight. If it's a drag out brutal melee with folks being deathstruck and high-damage lieutenants roaming the field, then sure, go all in. If on the other hand you're in a relatively secure position and you see a breathless NPC crunchy is already fighting three people, just let those folks have it. You'll get plenty of other chances to get your treasure. There's no reason to mob the poor fellow with ridiculously overwhelming numbers. It can also aggravate safety issues as multiple people descending a single frazzled out of breath fighter means more chances of wild swings and unsafe head shots. As said, it's one thing if you're running down a lieutenant, but give the grunts a break.

Secondly, gauge who you're fighting and use some common sense. I have had some awesome full speed duels with some folks who I know from experience really get into it, and it's a blast. We're running all over the place, the swings are fast and furious, both parties are clearly enjoying themselves, and its a rush. When your opponent, however, is timidly approaching taking the odd cautious poke here or there, dial it back a few notches. Especially if you're skilled enough to take the person out with some well placed taps, there's no reason to go to town on that person at high speed. Also, if you're about to engage someone who you know likes a quick fight, but notice they're standing next to some folks who maybe aren't so inclined, be mindful of this so you don't inadvertently trample or clothesline folks who are a bit less rough and tumble.

Third, some may say this breaks immersion and such, but I don't think it's out of line to periodically offer a “thank you” or “good fight” to the exhausted NPC you just put down as you search them for treasure. I noticed some PCs doing it at Madrigal when I started NPCing there, and I try and make a point of doing it myself now because that person is there devoting their time to getting beat up by me and my fellows. I think it helps to let people know their efforts are appreciated.

The bottom line is that regardless of whether you're a PC or NPC, you're at a game and it should be a communal effort to ensure that all involved are having a good time. NPCing is the volunteering of the LARP world, for the most part no one's getting paid for this. So, it's a good idea to try and keep the volunteers entertaining you happy so they'll come back. It's a game, have fun, make sure your opponent is having fun too. That is after all sort of the whole point.

If you've worked the NPC shift, have you had experiences with sportsmanship that have made you more or less inclined to NPC that game again? What is "good" vs. "bad" sportsmanship?

Friday, June 1, 2012

So a friend and reader of the blog, bakeneko, urged me to do a post on humor in larps, and I think that's a really interesting topic. One of the reasons I larp is because I like the community, and, more specifically, I like how people bring their senses of humor into play. Also, as anyone who has larped with me will know, I'm kind of a ham, and I like to be funny. Larps are one of the few places where my (bad) jokes are fully appreciated. In fact, now that I think about it, humor is one of the major things that drives me to larp-- I've never really considered it before. So, I posed a few questions to myself, and urge all of you to answer them as well. Most of my examples come from Accelerant's "Mirror, Mirror," so apologies to non-players... but it really is a funny game.

Why is larp humor so funny?

At larps, I often guffaw at things that would elicit, in real life, only a light chuckle. I chalk this up to two things. Firstly, consider the horror movie: a well-done horror movie has really funny moments, with laugh out loud jokes. These jokes are made all the funnier by the emotional switch to fear borne from suspense: the contrast between scary and funny makes the jumpy moments (as my sister calls them) terrifying-- and the comedic instances hilarious. Larp achieves this same effect: the seriousness of a significant battle makes the IG banter all the funnier. Also, during a larp, you're generally exhausted, so everything's a riot.

Also, larp allows us to exploit fantastical situations more easily: some of the funniest things in Mirror, Mirror are the flavor traits that people use to flesh out character abilities. For instance, take "Heal by Darkness"-- admittedly, only lightly humorous on its own. However, when a "by Darkness" healer heals a downed Person of Righteous Goodliness, and that individual is agonized or traumatized by the effect, it turns into a subtle joke that really only comes across in a larp interaction.

What kind of humor works at a larp?

I think the more larp humor can play on in-game situations, the better. That way, no one's offended, and you really add to the immersion of a game. Mirror, Mirror offers some of these in-game based jokes: for example, consider unicorns and orphanages. Among a number of characters, there's the ongoing joke/completely serious concern that neither of these things is particularly good news: unicorns are constantly being corrupted, and orphanges are the origin of evil cult rituals 9 out of 10 times. This has lead to many player-spoken litanies against helping unicorns and/or orphanages.

I generally think humor functions the best when it's worked directly into how a character interacts: if a character is naturally funny, to me, it feels more genuine than when a serious character looks for opportunities to be funny-- it turns into character-breaking jokes. An example of in-character humor: there was once a brilliant NPC who we referred to as the "wedding planner." His job, during a large field fight, was to "fix" the attacking monsters through in-fight adjustments-- he did so accompanied by a series of obsessive-perfectionist comments and criticisms, muttered under his breath. There was no obvious attempt at humor, which may have been jarring-- instead, comedy was worked deep into the character's personality; the character was fantastically acted, which made the whole thing effective.

How can you work humor into a character?

For me, working humor into a character can be difficult. Some people are naturally funny and gregarious: playing a character that exploits these personalities, for those sort of people, comes naturally. For others, myself included, it can be a bit more of a task to make a character funny: falling into the pit of "trying too hard" is exhausting and obnoxious. Instead, I try to seize on things that work towards in-character comedy-- especially ones that mesh well with the gameworld. I tend towards absurdism, so predilections towards odd obsessions, asking seemingly obvious questions, and sporting questionable morals (towards the darker shades of gray) all work well for me. Ultimately, I think comedy in a larp is not wholly reliant on clever jokes-- for me, the funnier characters depend on acting and full incorporation of humor into a character's larger personality.

What kind of humor doesn't work at a larp?

This is an important question to ask yourself. Humor is powerful. It can both build and sever bonds between players. Moreover, when people are getting laughs from half of the player base, they don't necessarily realize a group of people are not amused (in an out-of-game sort of way). Admittedly, you can't please everyone, and people may be un-amused for a variety of reason. However, your sense of humor, however artfully delivered, could border offense. For that reason, it's important to incorporate humor into your gameplay carefully. To this end, I have three basic rules.

The first one: be nice. It's Rob Ciccolini's rule from Accelerant, and I think it works well in determining what is or isn't funny. Even if you're trying to be funny, don't be insensitive. Don't insult things like physical appearance, speech impediments, skill, or perceived intelligence. If someone sings a song or reads a poem, and it's less than stellar, don't say anything negative unless it's really obvious they were performing in jest. If you're character is an insensitive jerk, and you really want to make jokes at another player's expense, focus on in-game things: elf-ishness, in-game character traits, and obsessions with, say, unicorns. Also, make sure that the brunt of your jokes is ok with it-- if it's your plan to habitually joke at someone else's expense, talk about it before game. Say something like, "My character is an ass, and likes to make jokes about others-- is it ok if I do that to you? I don't actually mean anything by it, but I like interacting with you, and guessed that you probably wouldn't mind." And go with whatever they say.

Secondly-- don't make people uncomfortable. The big one for me on this hinges on OoG racism: I've run into out-of-game racist jokes one or two times, from individual players, and it made me supremely uncomfortable (to the point where I avoid the situation altogether). Rape jokes are another big one: avoid them. There's been a lot of discussion, out of the larp community, on why sexual abuse jokes aren't funny-- a larp situation is no different, in many ways, from an OoG social situation. Think before you speak, and recognize that people come into game with OoG sensitivities. Be nice. Be respectful. Be considerate.

Thirdly-- keep it in game. Don't break immersion by making a joke. Admittedly, I'm not an "all the time in game" person. Muttered jokes and conversations with friends, in the safety of my own cabin, sometimes dally outside of purely in-game conversation-- I come to larps to be with people. However, I avoid making jokes, loudly and publicly, that clearly break immersion for others. That's rude-- we all come to this game to play, and the general expectation is that you stay in-character at all times.

Not to end on a downer note... but what do you find funny? What are some of the funniest experiences you've had in a larp? What hasn't worked?